Champions League fails fairness test

A battle between the pampered and the neglected of the Champions League T20 will be played out at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium here on Monday night.

The Mumbai Indians will be in blue and gold, fresh from their thrilling victory over the defending champions in Chennai on Saturday and secure in the knowledge that the tournament organisers will do everything in their powers to alleviate any problem Mukesh Ambani's team may face.

They are the only side in the tournament who can field an extra foreigner over the usual limit of four. It was one of those five foreigners in the XI, Lasith Malinga, who made all the difference in the win against the CSK.

On the other end of the spectrum are the Trinidad & Tobago. The islanders, who breathed life into the inaugural CLT20 in 2009 and promptly lost their star performer, Keiron Pollard, to the IPL, and the Mumbai Indians in particular, came into this year's competition as the Caribbean champions. They had to come through qualifiers to make the main draw.

“A few things are not in our hands and the decisions have been made. We are not worrying much about those and we will look to go out and win matches,” said Trinidad & Tobago pacer Ravi Rampaul.